BROSSARD, QUE. -- The Montreal Canadiens resumed practice Sunday morning at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, following a long break caused by a major COVID-19 outbreak in the team.
The players participated in a few basic exercises at the beginning of the session, in order to shake off rust that had accumulated over the last few days. A total of 21 of them, in addition to the coaching staff, jumped on the ice.
Among them were goaltenders Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault, and defencemen Ben Chiarot and Chris Wideman. Forwards Josh Anderson and Mike Hoffman also skated wearing no-touch jerseys.
Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak, who have already tested positive for COVID-19, wore navy blue jerseys indicating that they are being evaluated daily.
Nick Suzuki, Ryan Poehling, Cole Caufield, Sami Niku, Laurent Dauphin, Jonathan Drouin, Artturi Lehkonen, Michael McNiven, Cédric Paquette, David Savard, Corey Schueneman and Lukas Vejdemo also practiced.
Quebecer Jean-Sébastien Dea, one of the few players under contract with Montreal who has not been recalled as an emergency measure in recent weeks due to the numerous cases of coronavirus, practiced with the Habs.
The Bleu-blanc-rouge announced that Dea was recalled from the Laval Rocket and assigned to the team's reserve squad.
The Habs are not out of the woods yet, as they still have 16 players subject to the league's COVID-19 protocol.
The Habs hiatus began the day after their last game on January 1 -- a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. The break, which was necessary to contain the COVID-19 outbreak that rocked the team at the turn of the new year, ended Saturday.
The team's next scheduled game is on Jan. 12 against the Bruins in Boston.
Former journalist Chantal Machabée will pilot her first media availability since being named the Habs' vice-president of communications on Jan. 5.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 9, 2022.
